The Critic. By giving us impressions of their experiences, critics can prepare us for certain life encounters before we commit to them ourselves. They help us navigate a seemingly endless maze of food, wine, literature, music, film, art, travel – the list is vast. But not entirely comprehensive. Until now…

Myles Barlow understands the impact of critical review at a depth seldom if ever before found. But surely, we face far more important issues than what movie to see or what book to buy, in the roller coaster of life!

Join Myles for a second series of the AFI Award-winning comedy Review with Myles Barlow, as he ponders the effects of any human experience his audience desires – and gives it a rating out of five stars. At last, a guide by which to truly experience life!

Myles begins the second series reviewing:

Wanderlust – the freedom and cultural experiences of travelling abroad. But after meeting fellow Aussie traveller Scott, Myles’s quest for enrichment goes anything but to plan.

Addiction – After listening to the plight of a young mother still breastfeeding her two-year-old, Myles dives head first into a life of addiction. His addictions quickly multiply until his life is an unforgiving monster, with an appetite Myles cannot control or satisfy.

Cult – The letter of the week asks Myles the worth of setting up a club. To answer this Myles recruits less fortunate souls to join his cult ‘The Barlowians’. Over time, Myles becomes consumed by his own power, with tragic results.

For those without digital I expect that you’ll be able to watch on iview.

Here is a review from the first series, Myles reviews having a dickhead for a mate:

This is the first episode of the classic series The Secret Life of Machines, in three parts. Tim Hunkin & Rex Garrod give us the history of the machines we encounter in everyday life and explain how they work.

The ABC has completed the Phoenix/Janus collection on dvd with the release of the second series of Janus on dvd this week. A few years ago I was very disappointed when I decided to watch these series again and found that they weren’t available, so great that they are all out now. Once again I’ll use the occasion to recommend them. I can’t think of any Australian drama series that I’ve liked better. I think they should appeal to fans of The Wire, as the approach is somewhat similar (and rather groundbreaking when they were first aired), though admittedly on a rather more modest scale. Each series follows a single police investigation (in the case of Phoenix) or court trial (Janus) over 12 or so episodes. They took a much more realist approach to any other series around at the time (early to mid 90’s), for a start they were set in a real city (Melbourne) which was very recognisable, and many events were loosely based on real life events (not uncommon now with the likes of Underbelly, but not common then). In the same way that the Wire shifts focus each series, there was a shift from following the police investigations in Phoenix, to the legal process in Janus, with one character being the link between the otherwise largely independent series. It will certainly look rather low budget compared to the Wire, though aside from that comparison it stands up very well. It is really worth seeing if you haven’t already (and if you have you’re probably already getting the dvds).

I used to regularly complain that the ABC series Phoenix wasn’t available on dvd, until ABC released it last year. Of course, as soon as it came out I started worrying about whether they would release the second series and the follow-up series Janus. No need for worry, they’ve looked after the fans by continuing the releases without too much delay, with Phoenix out earlier this year, and now Janus following without too much delay at all. According to the ABC shop website Janus will be available on the 1st of October. Anyone who watched Phoenix will definitely want to continue with Janus.It is not a direct sequel as such, the only direct link is through one cast member from Phoenix (Simon Westaway as Peter ‘Noddy’ Faithful) who continues on, but it is follows a similar format to Phoenix in following one story over an entire season and overall has a very similar style. This time a criminal investigation is followed from the point of view of the courts rather than the police. Definitely recommended. In fact even if you haven’t seen both series of Phoenix you could easily start on this without realising you’d missed anything, the story is completely independent.

Perhaps I should consider a name change to the Ed Kuepper fan blog or something to that effect. Anyway, this message is up on the Laughing Clowns myspace page:

The Laughing Clowns, following the enormous success of the last shows MAY be doing some select live dates in Australia. January 2010 had been mentioned. Nothing is confirmed. We will post when we know. Love you all. Expect something special.

Well, if anything will take my mind of the fact that I’m not at Mt Buller at an ATP festival in January then this is it.

In the meantime, the ABC will be showing a live Laughing Clowns show on Thursday the 17th of Sepetember as part of their Live at the Basement series (so it’s one of the shows from early May).